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' JrfewoKi c
HE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND.

GOSHEN

THE blilUNE OF SAFT EL HENNEH

(18S5X

::ik)l:aud xavili.e.

WITH ELEVEN PLATES, INCLUDING M,

APS AND PLANS.

wiiumisjj m- OBVSB OF me coumrrgK

LONDON

MISSSIIS, IK; iLVW, s TO., „ 5. j,,^ Ll.DOATO UILL, E.C.

Witt |^0)^ktn$ ICtimxtff

XnestaUd to the

THE SHEINE

SAFT EL HENNEH

AND TU1

LAND OF GOSHEN

(1885).

THE SHKINE

SAFT EL HENNEH

AND THE

LAND OF GOSHEN

* (1885)

EDOUARD NAVILLE.

FIFTH MEMOIR OF

THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND.

c »

e f • (' •

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE COMMITTEE.

• *• K. *

LONDON:
MESSRS. TRUBNER & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL, E.C.

1887.

'h-xSl

• • •

•V.V,

• • • •!
• • •

• • ••

• • • • • • • (

• • • ••,

• -

• ••• •

• • •

• •

• •• ••
■ •

• • •

'mm •• • • •

PKEFACE.

The present Memoir embodies the results of my exploratory campaign during the
winter season of 1885. Of these results, I have already had the honour to present a
brief vtvd voce report, in the course of a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution
during the month of October in the same year.

The Members of the Egypt Exploration Fund may probably ask how it is that
they have not sooner received this work, and they may be justly surprised that a
memoir so moderate in length should have been in preparation for nearly two years.
I can only plead in reply the fact that I was under the necessity of first completing a
very heavy task begun several years before, which task is now finished.

The greater part of this Memoir is devoted to the interpretation of a monument
which has largely contributed to determine the position of the Land of Goshen ; a
subject especially within the domain of the Egypt Exploration Fund, in the service
of which Society I have thrice had the honour to be engaged. Priceless objects of
antiquity are daily disappearing in Egypt, and nowhere does the work of destruction
go on so rapidly as in the Delta. While there is yet time — while still the kindly soil
preserves some store of unrifled treasure — let us endeavour not only to rescue these
invaluable relics, but to make use of them for the solution of those important
geographical and historical problems which confront the Archaeologist at every step.
Burned in the lime-kiln of the fellah, or broken up and sold piecemeal to the passing
tourist, the inscriptions which contain the materials necessary to our studies will ere
long be wanting.

It may perhaps be said that there is not much in a name ; and I admit that the
shrine of Saft el Henneh presents fewer points of interest than the store-chambers
and inscriptions of Pithom. I nevertheless venture to hope that this Memoir, which
is the logical and historical sequel of the first, may receive some modest share of that
favour with which " Pithom" has been honoured.

EDOUARD NAVILLE.

Malagny, May, 1887.

Tl ^^^

CONTENTS.

Saft el Henneh

The Thirtieth Dynasty

The Monuments discovered . .

Phacusa, Goshen, Ramses

Khataanah, Kantir

Tell Botab

Appendix

PAOB

14
21
24
26

SAFT EL HENNEH.

Towards the close of December, 1884, wLile
exploring the sidea of a canal which branches
off at Zagazig and joins the canal of Isma'ilieh,
I came to a large village called Saft el Heimeh,
The country all around is peculiarly fruitful.
The luxuriant fields bear witness to the fertility
of the soil ; while the villages, which are among
the richest in Lower Egypt, are governed by
sheikha who generally are men of large fortunes.

At the first glance, one sees that Saft el
Heaneh stands on the site of an ancient city
of considerable extent. Close to the canal, a
large space is covered with mounds of decayed
bricks and broken pottery, indicating a Roman
settlement, where the direction of the streets is
still discernible. This spacs is bounded on the
south side by the remains of a wall built of
large, crude bricks, and about 36 feet in width.
The area of the old city does not end there.
Farther to the east, beyond a brackish pond, is
a high mound of ancient date, now used as a
cemetery. The whole village is constructed
on the ruins of old houses, many of which are
still to be seen on the south side. It is pro-
bable that some years ago, the mounds covered
a much larger space of ground than now ; but
as in the case of alt these old Egyptian cities,
the mounds have been worked for sebakh, and
thus have disappeared by degrees.

Walking through the streets of the village,
one sees, budt into the walls of the houses,
fragments of hard stone, diorite, porphyry, red
or black granite. Sometimes much larger pieces
are used for foundations. The mosque, which
is now the school, is supported by Greek
columns of grey marble, some with their capitals.
Another large fragment serves for the threshold
of what is called the old synagogue, where tlie
traditional well of Moses is shown. Among

this multitude of fragments I found only two
that were inscribed. One, an angular thick slab
of red granite, with sculptures on both sides;
now used as a corner-stone at the end of a
street. This monument is of a very fine style,
bearing the name of the first king of the
thirtieth dynasty, NeJchlkorheh, Nectauebo I.
(pi. viii. c 1 and c 2). Another is the top of a
tablet of black granite, bearing the name of
Ptolemy Philadelphos (pi. viii. d) ; but it is
unfortunately in a most deplorable state, being
half sunk in a pond outside the village, where
for years, if not for centuries, it has been used
by the fellaheen women as a board on which
to wash their linen.

The most interesting place at Saft el Henneh
is a declivity which, starting from the large
brick wall, slopes down towards the fields. It
is partly occupied by a garden and a field of
henneh. When I went there first, I saw at a
distance of about a hundred and twenty yards
from the wall, a large hollow half full of water,
in which lay several blocks of basalt, and a
block of black granite inscribed with hiero-
glyphs, I soon perceived that this block formed
part of the monument to which must once have
belonged the two large fragments deposited
near the door of the Bulak Museum. These
monuments have been studied by Prof. Brugscli,
who read upon them the uEime of the uome of
Arabia. Tiie stone which still lay on the spot
was a useful addition to the very imperfect
knowledge we had of that important district ;
the more so as I -aw in the inscription a geo-
graphical name wliich does not occur in the
Bulak fragments. It was therefore desirable
to atttmpt excavations at Saft, but it could
not be done before the spring, when the water
would have suflBciently subsided.

SAKT EL HENNEH.

My first object in excavating at Saft was to
recover as much as I could of the famous shrine
of Saft of the time of Nectanebo II., the last
of the Pharaohs, and thus to restore, at least
in part, this important monument, known only
from the fragments at Bulak. I began, there-
fore, to work round the granite block, I soon
found the walls of the temple (of. pi. x.) which
originally contained the monoUth ; but beyond
two more fragments of the naos, I discovered
no inscribed stones in the temple itself, but
only 142 basalt stones worked on one side, and
prepared either for a wall or a pavement. I
cleared the area of the temple down to the
sand. The enclosure is made of brick walls from
15 to 18 feet thick. The building originally stood
on the bank of a canal which followed nearly
the same course as the present Abu-I-Munagge,
and which certainly was the old Pelusiac branch.
The old bed may be traced as far as Belbeis,
Between the temple and the great city wall is a
space about 120 yards wide, which, judging
from the nature of the soil, must once have
been covered with houses. I there made several
soundings, and sank pits down to the natural
soil, but without result. The wall itself is 36
feet wide, and the bricks are more than 15
inches long. There are also traces of a less
masBive wall in froBt of the temple, at right
angles with the city wall, which very likely en-
closed the temenos. Outside the temple, in the
direction of the village, I found in a corn-field
two fragments of a colossal statue of black
granite. The buckle on the belt bears the
cartouche of Rameses II. (pi. viii. a). I also
purchased from a fellah in the village a fine
broken statue of Nectanebo IL, now in the
British Museum.

This certainly cannot be called a rich collec-
tion of monuments ; but after I had worked
there for a few days, I soon became convinced
that Saft el Henneh had already been robbed of
its choicest relics. It is a mine which has not
only been worked, but thoroughly ransacked.

and its most valuable monuments have either
been scattered or destroyed. When the sheikh
on whose land I was excavating became re-
assured as to the object of my researches, he
told me that some twenty years ago a great
number of inscribed stones were unearthed on
that spot ; but since that time they had dis-
appeared, most of them having been used for
building purposes. The great number of broken
pieces which are built into the walla of the
houses prove that the sheikh spoke the truth.
It is possible that some of the dispersed monu-
ments have found their way to the museums of
Europe. There is no doubt, for instance, that
a basalt ichneumon which was shown to me by
the learned keeper of the Ambras Collection at
Vienna, Ritter von Bergmann, comes from Saft
el Henneh. It exactly resembles the ichneumon
represented on pi. vi., and the inscription is

nearly identical :

1 ^*=

uilU

Atum, thp.

Ka of Heliojinlis, mho resides in the house of
the sycamore. It is also likely that a fragment
in the Louvre, on which Professor Brugsch has
discovered a list of dekans,' came from the
same place.

The way in which the monuments of Saft
have been destroyed is very well illustrated by
what happened to the shrine. Twenty years
ago, when digging for agricultural purposes,
the fellaheen came across this splendid mono-
lith, covered with sculptures inside and outside.
A pacha who lives in the neighbourhood
immediately ordered that it should be broken in
pieces, thus acting in accordance with a super-
stitionwhich prevails throughoutEgypt.namely,
that the ancient monuments contain gold. The
first thing to do, therefore, is to break them up,
in order to arrive at the precious metal. Two
of the fragments were carried by the pacha to
his ishet (farm), where they remained until they
were taken to the Museum of Bulak (pi. i.

1 BrugBcfa, Thee. Inscr.
Louvre, p. 73,

p. 179} Pieiret, Inscr. du

THE THIRTIETH DYNASTY.

and ul. B. a, b. b). Several others have been
built into the bridges of Saft and Tahra, the
sculptured surfaces being first erased. My first
task was to collect all the fragments that I could
find, and to put together as much as I could
of this valuable monument. Besides the big
block which I saw on the occasion of my first
visit (s. a), I dug out three more at Saft (s. b,
s. c, s. d). On the side of the canal near the
isbet of Mustapha Pacha was an angular piece
(m), with part of two outside faces and a little
of the inside (pi. i., v., vi., vii.). Near that
spot, with the help of tackles, I dragged another
fragment out of the canal (c). I think there is
yet another close by, but ihe canal was so deep
that I could not reach it. This was all I
could recover of that fine monument, of which I
thus restored about one-half.' Judging from
these facts it is evident that Saft el Henneh has
been rich in precious objects of antiquity, and
that irreparable losses have been caused by the
vandalism of the inhabitants.

THE THIRTIETH DYNASTY.

Looking at the monuments of the twoNecta-
nebos, it is impossible not to be struck by the
beauty of the workmanship as well as by the
richness of the material employed. Egyptian
art undergoes a new resurrection more complete
than under the twenty-sixth dynasty. There
is more vigour in the style than at the time of
the Psammetichi ; perhaps less delicacy than in
the works of the Saite kings, but a decided
tendency to revert to the stern beauty of the
works of the great Pharaohs. The hiero-
glyphs engraved on the tablet and shrine of
Saft, and on the cornices of Horbeit, are cer-
tainly among the most beautiful in Egypt. In

' Since tliiBwaB written, all rhe blocks have beeu brought
to the MuBeum of Bulak, with the exception of two, s.C,
which ie still buried in the garden of the sheikh, am) c,
which fell back into the canal. The preseut Director of Ibe
Museum, M. Gi'chaut, had the blocks pnt together, and all
that remains of the shrine may be seen uow at the entrance
of the Musenm. (March, 1887.)

the i)roportions of the monuments there is also
manifested an ambition to rival the colossal
buildings of earlier dynasties. Thus the Nec-
tanebos did not cut up the colossi of former
kings, or engrave their names on monuments
which they had not erected ; they forbore to
follow the example of the kings of the twenty-
first and twenty-second dynasties. They again
worked the quarries of Aswan and Hamamat,
and brought thence the enormous blocks which
are found in several places in the Delta. For
their models, they seem to have chosen the
kings of the twelfth dynasty. It is to the art
of the Amenemhas and the Usertesens that the
art of the Nectanebos may best be compared.
Nectanebo II. took for bis coronation name the
first oval of Usertesen I, For kings who spent
the gi-eater part of their lives in the Delta, it
was natural that those ancestors who seemed
worthiest of imitation, and who recalled to them
the most glorious traditions, should be the
kings of the twelfth dynasty, the builders of
Tanis and of several cities on the Pelusiac
branch of the Nile.

From the Greek writers we derive much in-
formation concerning the kings of the thirtieth
dynasty. We perhaps know more about them
than we know of any others of the Pharaohs.
Judging, however, from the monuments which
they erected, they must have been much more
powerful than might bo gathered from the
narrative of Diodorus Siculus. He describes
them as constantly engaged in resisting the
invasions of the Persians ; and if one of them
succeeded in holding his ground against the
armies of the great king, the second of his suc-
cessors was fated to lose his throne. This being
the case, how could they find time and means to
raise the great buildings of which there are so
many ruins in the Delta ? Certain it is, that in
the whole course of ray Delta explorations, the
names of the two Nectanebos are among those
which I found most frequently, as well as those
of Rameses II. and Ptolemy Philadelphos.
2

SAFT EL HENNEH.

I have mentioned and described elsewhere ^
the gilt pillar bearing the name of Nekhthorheb
which I discovered at Pithom. I can adduce
other instances in which I came across the name
of this king. In a small village called Tawila^
north of Tell el Kebir, the people told me that
in one of the houses there was a stone block
which was said to be inscribed. I dug in the
soil at the place which was pointed out to me,
and I soon found a large block of red granite,
broken at both ends. It was 12 ft. 2 in. long,
3 ft. 3 in. wide, and 20 in. thick. It was
originally twice as thick, for on the narrow side
there is a vertical inscription, and portions of the
characters with the side line of a cartouche which
belonged to another inscription running parallel
to the first. The inscription in large hieroglyphs
very deeply cut is the beginning of the name
of Nekhthorheb (pi. ix. h.). This stone formed
part of a pillar originally belonging to some large
edifice. It had been sawn in two, and one of the
halves had been brought there, I imagine, to
make an oil-press. Two square holes had been
carved in the stone for planting wooden posts,
and between them there was a small furijow in
the form of a quadrangle, with a gullet for the
flowing out of the liquid. How came this
block to a place where it is quite isolated, and
where there are no traces of ruins ? I think it
must have come from a tell called Tell el
Ahmar, about four miles higher up than Tawila
on the side of the same canal. I there saw an
old settlement, and a capital of basalt.

I will but mention Behbeit el HagaVy near
Mansura, the colossal ruins of which have
often been described. It was probably the
birthplace of Nekhthorheb, who there founded
a temple which was enlarged by Ptolemy Phil-
adelphos. There also the name of Rameses II.
is found. His cartouche is inscribed on the
base of a column close to the house of the
sheikh el heled.

1 ((

The Store City of Pithom," p. 12.

Near the station of Abu Kebir, N.E. of
Zagazig, is the locality called Horheit^ generally
considered as the site of the old Pharbaethus.
I visited the extensive area covered with the
ruins of the ancient city; and in the village
itself, in a small courtyard between two houses,
I saw three enormous granite blocks, such as
are seldom met with in Egypt. They are
fragments of a ceiling ; one of them is sunk
in the soil, making an acute angle with the
ground ; and the part which is buried must evi-
dently go down to a great depth, so as to support
the enormous weight of that which is above
the soil, and which is some 24 feet in length. I
should not wonder if the whole block were
twice that length. We thus gain some idea
of the proportions of the temple. Here also
Nekhthorheb is the author of these gigantic
monuments, and here again I saw the name of
Rameses II. on a cornice built into a wall.

At Saft el Henneh, if we observe chrono-
logical order, we find Rameses II., then the two
Nectanebos, and then Ptolemy Philadelphos.
It is not extraordinary that the kings of the
thirtieth dynasty should have attached special
importance to the eastern part of the Delta, and
have multiplied great structures in that part of
the country ; for I cannot help thinking that
these Egyptian temples, surrounded by thick
walls built sometimes of bricks and sometimes
of granite, and communicating with the outside
world through but one door, or two, were capable
of being employed for purposes of defence, and
of being turned to the same uses as the Temple
of Jerusalem, or the fortified convents of the
Middle Ages. A small garrison well provided
with food could easily hold out for some time
in an Egyptian temple, and undoubtedly it was
the place in which the people of the city de-
posited their valuables in times of war or
insurrection. The Nectanebos were constantly
exposed to invasions from the east. They had
again and again to fight the armies of the
Persians; therefore they built these temples

I i

THE MONUMENTS DISCOVERED.

which were primarily religious building?, but
which could also be converted into military
forts, and thus help in the defence of the
country. This double usefulness of the temple
has, I believe, occasioned the ruin of many. It
was not iconoclasU only who so thoroughly
destroyed the temple of Tunis. Such a com-
plete overthrow demands too much time and
labour to be the work of a fanatical mob.
It is far more probable that in some of the
numerous wars which were waged in the Eastern
Delta, whether under the Roman Empire or
later,' this well-built stronghold was purposely
destroyed, that it might not fall into the hands
of an enemy.

Further explorations in the Delta will pro-
bably bring to light other monuments of the
Thirtieth Dynasty, which, considering all the
works still remaining, must certainly have been
more powerful than would appear from the
writings of the Greek authors. It is also pos-
sible that the conquest of Egypt by the Per-
sians was less easy and complete than as
described in Diodorus. Several circumstances
lead us to question the correctness of the Greek
historian when he says * that Nectanebo, after
his defeat, gave up Egypt as lost, gathered his
treasures, and fled to Ethiopia. Probably he
was buried in Egypt. On the shrine of Saft
there is unfortunately no date left. There are
but a few doubtful signs (pi. iii. 4) which may
be the remains of one. The contents of the in-
scription seem, however, to point to a long
reign, at the end of which Nectanebo may have
become vassal or tributary of the great king.

THE MONUMENTS DISCOVERED.
I will describe the monnraents of Saft in
chronological order. The first which occurs is
the colossal statue in black granite of Raraeses

cr.

For inBUnoe, in the Bucolic war under M. Aureliii
FlinUerB Petrie, "Tania," i. p. 41.
Lib. xvi. 51.

II. There were two fragments in a corn-field
a short way in front of the temple near the
village. One is a foot with part of the leg, the
other is the waist with part of the apron (pi.
viii. a). On the buckle of the girdle is engraved
the cartouche of Rameses II. The buckle is
8 inches in length, which gives some idea of the
size of the statue. Such a monument could only
belong to a temple of some importance. We
learn from these scanty remains that Rameses II.
erected at Saft a building of large proportions.

From the nineteenth dynasty we pass over to
the thirtieth, and to its first prince Nekhthorheb,
to whom belongs the granite slab used as a
corner-stone. It is part of a large stele, or of a
wall inscribed on both sides with religious texts
(pi. viii. c. 1 and c. 2). The sculptures were
executed in several registers. Tlie king is seen
in the attitude of worship, with raised arms,
and there are fragments of his two cartouches.
On one side there is reference made to putting
somebody, very likely a god, on the ")] III tes
neferu, which is the usual name of the sacred
boats. The style of this fragment, and espe-
cially of the hieroglyphs of the large cartouche,
is remarkably beautiful.

Then follow the monuments of Nectanebo
II., Khejjerkara Nekhiiiebef. I begin with the
broken statue which I purchased with great
difficulty from a reluctant fellah in the village.
It is uow in the British Museum. It is all that
remains of a standing statue ; head and feet
have been brokeu off, perhapa intentionally.
On the back of the pillar by which the statue
is supported, is an inscription in two columns,
the signs of which are placed face to face (pi.
viii. b). On the right side, are the names and
titles of the king ; on the left, those of the deity
to whom Nectanebo had dedicated hia own
statue. That deity was the god of Saft el
Henneh, So^ft or Soptahhein.

The attribute which the king assumes on his
standard is ^, Thema (pi. i, 1, ii, 1, iv. 1),

SAFT EL HENNEH.

which can only mean " The Destroyer.^* Horus the
Destroyer ^ov simply ** The Destroyer ^^^ was a title
adopted by other kings before Nectanebo ; User-
tesen II., for instance, when he appears before
Sopt in a tablet of Wadi Gasus.^ In a later age
it was assumed by the Emperor Tiberius. Nec-
tanebo II. calls himself Horthema^ a warlike
god, another form of the god Anhur^ translated
as Ares by the Greeks, and one of the divinities
of the Sebennyte nome, the birthplace of the
Nectanebos. Nekhthorheb put Anhur in his
coronation name; and Nectanebo IT. put
Horthema in his standard. Horthema is gene-
rally represented bearing a lance,* as it is said
in the inscription of pi. i. 1. 4 ; but in the temple
of MedinetHabu, Rameses III. takes that name
at the moment when, armed with a mace, he
smites his enemies.^ The other titles of Nec-
tanebo are only common formulas which are
nearly identical for all the kings. It is said
that he loves Sopt, the lord of the East^ Har-
maJchis the great god^ the lord of the 'mountain of
BaJchUy the prince ^ the king of the nine gods}

By far the most important monument of Saft
is the shrine of Nectanebo II., found quite
fortuitously about twenty years ago. I have
already related the misfortunes which befell this
magnificent monolith, one of the largest of its
kind. Its thickness is 6 feet 8 \ inches, its width
6 feet ; as for the height, it is not possible to
determine it exactly, but it could not have been
less than 7 feet 3 inches. The four faces were
covered with inscriptions, as well as the inside
and the ceiling. I have given (pi. i. and pi. iii.)
a restoration of the monument, both front view
and back view, with an indication of the way in
which the remaining blocks fit into each other.
It shows that the back and the right side are

* Zeitechr. 1882, p. 204.

' LaoEone, Dizion. Mit. pi. xv. p. 678.

' Leps. Denkm. iii. 209 and 210.

^Jp "1*1*1 The L used as determinative for number

nine, is frequently met with in inscriptions of that time.
Cf. pi. iii. 1» aud Grolenischeff, Stele Mettemich, p. 14.

fairly well preserved, while the greater part of
the left side and of the front has disappeared.
These parts probably lie in the foundations of
the bridge of Saft. On all four faces the lower
part is occupied by three Unes of an inscription
in large characters, which I will call the dedi-
catory, or historical, inscription. In front, the
two doorposts are covered with two similar
vertical inscriptions of nine lines each, containing
hymns recited in honour of Sopt by the king
himself, who is represented on the right as
king of Lower Egypt, of which he wears the
crown, and on the left as king of Upper Egypt.
Of this last, there are but a few signs left.
On the other faces, above the dedicatory in-
scription, are six horizontal registers containing
inscriptions and mythological representations.
The cornice at the top was adorned with hawks
spreading their wings over the cartouches of
Nectanebo.

The translation of the dedicatory inscription
is not easy, on account of the many abbrevia-
tions which occur in it. The scribe seems to
have been afraid lest he might not have room
enough, and so contracted the inscription as
much as he could.

On the front side it consists of the name of
the king repeated three times, and preceded by
one of the three qualities which are generally
united in his title. He is said to love the local
god who is called 8opt^ the lord of the East ; the

spirit of the East^ ^^ 4 and the hawk, or

Horus of the East ^^ 4 . Above, are the

hymns pronounced by the king speaking as the
god Thoth, to whom the hymns are attributed
(pi. i.).

Upper horizontal lines. . . . ** praise to Sopt
given by the good god, the lord of the world
Kheperkara ; the son of Ra the lord of diadems
. . . (made) by Thoth himself, once when he
celebrated this venerable god.

1. . . . ** in his house . . . against his enemies.
He came and killed Apophis ; and opened the

THE MONUMENTS DISCOVERED.

good year; 'the gods and goddesses are re-
joicing and exultant in hia sanctuary for he
chained the enemy with his wings.

2. . . . " the divine hawk, Tlie land of the
East is in joy ; he has killed hia enemies.'
Mannu is in delight ; when this spirit has
ascended and goes over his horizonj his ene-
mies are cut to pieces. When he has crossed the
sky with favourable winds, he reaches the good
Ament, the inhabitants of the West are in joy ;

3. " seeing he comes near them their limbs
tremble in seeing him; he is always in their
mouths;' none of them dare to rise; their
limbs are stretched before him ; he is the only
one, he who chooses{?) where he will approach
the mountain of Bakhu, When he rises

4. " on that mountain, all the quadrupeds of
the land are shouting to him ; his rays and his
splendour are upon them ; he brings on the
noon, when the mysterious hour has passed in
Nut ; the stars of the North and South * have
no rest Horthema, his arms carry the lance ;
he slays Apophis

5. " in front of his boat ; Horus takes hold of
the helm in order to steer the great boat. The
mighty Safekh, the lady of writing, litters her
sacred formulas in his divine barge. He came
and smote his adversaries in his form of Ahti.'

6. " He himself causes his body to increase '

' Jw* ,_ ^ ^ i he opeueU Ihe good year. I believe
tlie whole liDe has reference to astronomy. Brugsch, The-
saurus, i. p. 77-

— — ''=>.,o e I M

* tp r yi *^=— j^^ There are four mittancee m
iliLS hymn in which after a verb we find the two signs O
which should be read Ra, where we expect tofiod only the

pronoun "<— .. The other inatatices are: I. I [' | ^ i — 7.

1. 2

1.8 I

' They are incessantly pra
' Brugsch. Thes. i. p. 30 a

--^^

° IJ 8 ^^ This name appears only once ir
tion of Kotnan time, as that of a goddess,
means, he who holds the string or the net.

' Cf. Todt. 87, f. 3.

in his name of Horus Sojit ; he completes it in
the appointed hour in his name of Mahes ; he
liimself provides it with hia limbs in his name

7. " of Horns of the East. He smote them
(his enemies) by the heat which is in his body
in his name of Horthema. He pierced them in
one blow; (their bodies) are thrown to the Bast
and to Bakhu. He smote them

8. *' on the mountain of the East, their limbs
are consumed by fire. He feels the good wind
every day in his name of the victorious Horus.
He increases every day in his name of Hor Sopt.
Hail to thee to the limits of the sky, Sopt
Harmachis who is . . .

9. . . . " gods and goddesses ... of joy,
every day are united pleasure aud joy, spirit of
the Bast, hawk of the Bast who is Ra in Bakhu,
he crosses the sky himself ... on the Bast of
his boat every day."

This hymn was the first text which presented
itself to the eye of the spectator. We here
find the repetitions which are so common in
religious texts, and which often make them so
tedious to the reader. Besides there are the
singular etymologies where a proper name is
derived from a word having a quite different
meaning, but which sounds ahke. The most
striking example of those quibbles, for which the
Egyptians seem to have had a great taste, is in
1. 6. The god is called makes, a lion ; and why P
Because he completed viahm (his body) him-
self; mahsu is thus the origin of mahes, for no
other reason than a similarity in the sound of
the two words.

The characteristic feature of the god on which
the author of the hymn dwells at greatest
length, is his warlike frame. He is a fighting
god, as we shall see further when we study the
difl'erent forms which he assumes.

I pass on now to the texts on the other sides
of the naos, and first of all to the inscriptions in
large characters which I have called dedicatory.
I begin on the left side (pi. ii.), where it is

SAFT EL HENNEH.

related under what circumstances the ahrine
was raised to the god. Part of the traLslation
is conjectural, owing to the number of abbrevia-
tions in the words.

1 . " The good god, the very brave, the de-
stroyer who drives back . . . ; the wise and in-
telligent who fights for Egypt against the rebels
of the provinces, who treads under his feet the
Asiatics, who delivers his abode from their
violence ; the firm heart ; he who goes forth and
never falls back ^ one instant ; who shoots with
his bow at the right time ; who provides temples
by his great intelligence ; what he says * takes
place immediately, as what comes forth from
the mouth of Ra, the king of Upper and Lower
Egypt, Kheperkara, the son of Ba Nekht-
nebef . . .

2. " This venerable god Sopt, the lord of the
East, remembers his goodwill towards his
majesty ; and all the gods, when he (the king)
comes before them, are celebrating him in order
that he take care of the divine bodies (images
of the gods) during his lifetime and until many
years afterwards. When the king desired to
pay special honours ' to this god (Sopt) in a
secret sanctuary which was not known to the
priests, aud where all the gods of the province
hid their bodies, the god put in the heart of the
king to cause to be seen . . .

3. " (after) many years, without knowing
howit happened, they saw him distinctly, how he
was raised upon his couch ; * then there was joy

1 MMM ■ I believe here the — »— to be no abbrevia-
tion of the raasc. pron. 1^ (cf. Todl. 17, var. tol. 7, 11,
18, &c.). We Gad several instances of the same kind :

ID this last instance the following words indicate that it is
a god who is meant. We find also, pi. i. 1. ^i /\ * ■ ■■■ "^ '1
' "^ abbrev. for ^^ Cf. I. 3 ^^ for ^= ^>
' \^^ I read this eipreBsion ; ^ ^ -'^ '^ ? '

This is one of the most diiGcult paite. This sentence has

saying: The prince has appeared in the East;
he has adorned the world with his rays, thou
art raised very high to be the victorious lord.
Then the good god (the king) embelUshed his
sanctuary, and made it the Amen kheperu (the
hiding-place) of the lord of the East for bis
own body ; and all the gods who follow bim are
on his right, and all the gods in his place are
on the left, and when he comes forth all his
gods are before him like Ra when he appears
on the horizon, and the like when he rests in
his sanctuary every day."

Thus it was in commemoration of a miracle
of some kind that the shrine was erected. It
is most unfortunate that the end of the second
line should be destroyed, as we do not know
exactly what happened. However, it is clear
that either the priests did not know where the
abode of the god was, or (which I think is more
likely) that it was a place to which they had no
access. The king decided that something in
respect to those gods should be done ; but we do
not see what it was, because of the gap in the
stone. The result was that, after many years,
a god whom I believe to be Sopt, is seen sud-
denly raised on his couch. It was the cause of
great rejoicing in the land, and Nectanebo named
the sanctuary, " the hiding-place of Sopt." Such

been quoted by Bmgsch in the second part of his Dictionary
(p. 1266), but not quite coiTectly, and without translation.
O ^B~ is a rare word which Brugech considers as a
different form of J '^ZI ^^,^5- fo look at. I think
that this second verb adds to the word °°^ the idea of
seeing clearly, tiislmclli/. I already referred to the pron.
— employed instead of I ^ in the masculine sense {I. 1 ),
Ae for the word ^p-, the phonetic reading is given in
the Todt. 168 B 14, /^/IlH nema l%.i^^
The woi-d J ^^ U ^r? n«"a means a couch, a bed with a
lion's or a lam's head, exactly like that on which the hawk
Sopt is sitting. The god whose body was hidden, suddenly
appeared raised on his couch, I suppose in the form of a
hawk, as we see him, pi. ii. 5, or as he appears in the ideo-
graphic name of Sopt, pi. iii. 1.

THE MONUMENTS DISCOVEUED.

are the few facts to be gathered from the re-
dundant style of the inscription.

On the back, the inscription in large cha-
racters does not contain anything historical;
it is purely laudatory, praising the high deeds
and the qualities of the king (pi. iv.).

1. "... of the East, the destroyer, the issue
of Horus of the East, the firstborn son of the
god of the horizons, the only one, the strong-
hold (?) of Egypt, who consumes the evildoer
in the land and the rebellious around it,* the
king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Kheperkara,
the son of Ra, Nekhtnebef living eternally.

2. . . . the god of the horizon, who rises on
the horizon, his yellow rays shine . . . all the
human beings live in seeing the splendour of
Horus on Bakhu ; all the gods celebrate him
when they see him.

3. . . . thy throne, as victorious lord. The
two worlds in all their extent leap for joy when
thou risest on the horizon of Bakhu ... he
threw the mountains in their valleys. It is he
who protects Egypt, the eye of Ra,* and who
watches over the bodies of the gods. I have
enriched thy temple with all good things ; give
me as reward the victory as to Ra, eternally."

The inscription on the right side is far more
interesting (pi. vi.).

1. " The king of Egypt, Kheperkara, the son
of Ra, Nekhtnebef , has made monuments to his

s s

A^VS/N/>A

The beginning of this sentence has been translated twice by
Brugsch (Diet. Part 2), once as : Ddmpfer der Mordthaten
im Lande und der Rebellionen in seineni Umkreise (p. 934),
and again: ddmpfend den Zerfnalmer im Lande (p. 1344).
I believe it is more in accordance with the determinative of

\\ and its usual sense to translate it as consume,

r&ther th&u ddmpfen, choke or quell. After ^ Q I supply
the determinative -A the transgressor or the evildoer, I
quite agree with Brugscb that ^ is here a variant for
cf. pi. V. 2 : g ^.

* "^ a name for Egypt; cf. pi. vi. 6. Brugscb, Diet.
Part 2, p. 1339.

father Sopt, the lord of the East, this shrine in
black stone of granite. The doors which are in
front are in black bronze adorned with gold ;
and the image which is on it, of . . . and all
that is (written) on the leather roll has been
made of good work lasting eternally. As
reward he has received a long: reiofn, and all the
nations bowed down under his feet. He lives
like Ra eternally.

2. The good god, the king, ordered these
things to be made of his own will himself, in
order to preserve the divine body^ in its abode,
after his majesty had come to Kes in order to
make offerings to this venerable god Sopt, the
lord of the East, on his throne, as the victorious
lord. Thus, after periods of years they will
see . . . His majesty has chosen his abode in
the lifetime of Kheperkara, his son who loves
him, Nekhtnebef, living eternally.

3. It is the king who himself ordered to raise
the images to the gods of Kes on this shrine in
the lifetime of his majesty ; all the gods are at
their places, and they are as it is (written) on
the leather roll, as well as all the sacred cere-
monies ;* he provided that it should be cared for
exactly without any negligence (?) in it, when
. . . Thoth like a follower of the god of Hesert *
according to the number of panegyries, living
like Ra eternally."

This is in fact the most important inscription
on the sanctuary ; it informs us that the place
where Nectanebo erected the shrine was called
in his time Kes. We shall revert in another
chapter to this new geographical datum.

The inscriptions in small character either

3 |\^ for I ^i the divine body, the statue or image
of the god, which is called also |

pi. ii. 2, iv. 3.

li^H

all their ceremonies sacred

■1

a rare form of ^%^^ Brugsch, Diet. Part 2, p. 134.

* Mythological locality considered as the residence of
Thoth.

BAFT EL HENNEH.

describe what is engraved underneath or relate
what the gods have done to reward the king
for his benefits. It is not- possible to recognize
the rule which the engravers have followed in
the choice of their representations.

Among these, we will first consider the god to
whom the shrine is dedicated, and the different
forms given to him.

The moat usual form of Sopt is that of a
hawk, bare-headed (pi. v. 4), or wearing two
feathers (pi. ii. 5); he is croiiching either on a
couch (pi. ii. 5) or on a stone base (id.); he
may have before him the triangle A which
reads '* Sopt," and which is his name. This form
we find in the hieroglyph by which the name of
the nome is spelt. The hawk is the ordinary,
but not the most ancient, form of Sopt in the
time of Nectanebo, and consequently bears his
full titles : Sopt, the spirit of the East, the hawk
or the Horns of the East (pi. iv. 6). Another
hardly less usual at that timp, is that of an ugly
dwarf with large head and beard, wearing
feathers, with outstretched arms and wings,
having a knife in each hand. Thus represented,
he 18 very like the god Bes. This form is called
Sopt tclio smites the Asiatics (pi. ii. 6, &c.). A
third form is that of a man having instead of a
human head, the wing and head of a hawk with
two feathers. The body is crouched on a
pedestal; the left arm is raised like that of
Amon ; the right holds a bow and arrows. He
is called " Sopt Shu, the son of Ra " (pi. ii. 6);
and on another monument, in the Louvre, " the
lord of war."

Sopt Km' differs only slightly from Sopt Shu ;
it is a hawk's upper part on the body of a sitting
man (pi. v. 4).

The counterpart to this form is that of a
standing man, with the tail and wings of a hawk,
holding a knife in the left hand and the sign of
life -T- in the right. He is called " Sopt, the
master of faces, most terrible" (pi. ii. 5, or pi. v. 4).

Sopt may also be figured in human form,
wearing two feathers, with a long sceptre in

one hand, and various emblems in the other.
Thus represented, he is very like the god Anhur.
This variety is very ancient. "We have an
early example in a stele from Wadi Gasue, now
at Alnwick Castle, dating from the reign of
Usertesen II. ;' another in a sculpture of Wadi
Maghara of the eighteenth dynasty,* and another
under Rameses II.' I am inclined to think that
it is the oldest form of the god. He is then
always called " the lord of the Eaxt."

He is undoubtedly a warlike god. To him
belongs the East ; namely, the provinces of the
Eastern Delta as far as the Syrian frontier, as
well as the district between the Nile and the
Red Sea. He rises on the mountain of Bakhu,
which is synonymous with the East ; and it is
he who defends Egypt against the Eastern
invaders, the Menti or the Fenkhu as they are
called here, meaning of course the Persians,
who were the most dangerous enemies of
Nectanebo.

Sopt is generally accompanied by one or
several goddesses bearing the name of Khonset
(pi. V. 3 and 4) ; as well as by various forms of
Horns {Hoi-mer, or Hor Si Isis), and by Amon
represented under different forms, often with
the body of a bird (pi. ii. 5). Among his
attendants, one of the most usual is the lion
Makes, who is generally represented as gnawing
the head of a prisoner (pi. iii. 3, vi. 6, vii. 5) ;
sometimes also as a man with a lion's head
(pi. ii. 6, iii. 4).

An inquiry into the rank which Sopt occupies
in the Egyptian religion would here be out of
place ; but I may say that from even a purely
mythological point of view, the shrine of Safl,
like other inscribed monuments of the Thirtieth
Dynasty, is rich in valuable information.* I
believe that a careful study of the texts relating

' ErmaD, Zeitechr. 1882 p 204.
' Lepe., Deokm. iii. 28.
' Ibid., iii. 144.

' For inataooe, tUe identity of Amoa nnd Hannakhis
(pi. ii. I. 5, pi. T. 1. 4).

THE MONUMENTS DISCOVERED.

to the god Sopt would lead us to the conclusion
that it is not the rising sun which he figures,
but rather one of the planets — Venus, as the
morning star.

On the left si(Je of the shrine, as far as we
can judge from what remains, were represented
various sacred arks which were deposited in the
temple before the god.

We first see the arks of Bast and Thoth
(pi. ii. 4) ; it being always added that tliey are
" before Sopt^ Underneath was perhaps the ark
of Amon (ii. 5), and that of Sopt Shu. Then
comes the ark of Sopt the smiter of tlie Asiatics
(6), and on the same line occur the four prin-
cipal forms of Sopt, to whom, as well as to
Hormer and Khonset, Nectanobo is making an
offering. The inscriptions of 1. 4 and 1. 5 are
very much alike. They only mention that
these arks are *' engraved ^ according to the will
of Nectanebo^^ with his usual titles.

1. 6. " As a reward for all this which is ac-
cording to the will of their smi \of the son of the
gods'] who loves them^ king NectanebOj it is given
to him the dignity of Ba . . . of Seb; he is
brave as they [the gods] are brave; all the land
leaps for joy^ as the hearts are delighted in seeing
their beauty ; his love extends all over the world
as Ra when he rises on Bakhu^ because of his
great piety towards all the gods,^^

On the back (pi. iii. and iv.) are long pro-
cessions of divinities. There we find the four
names of the locality, some of which occur
repeatedly.

1. The ideographic name ^ which is written,
1. 1, over two goddesses.

' The word which I translate engrave or sculpture is
]\ I ^ t 1^ |(Brug8ch,Dict.Part2,p.l267)

is to draw. The word A ^^^^^^^ adds the same idea as in
French " rapporter ;" to draw or to engrave from a model,
which in this case is a leather roll. I believe that A
al4>iie (pi. iv. 6) is ^^ ^ | ^ |-

2. ""."^I'^^^A ^^^^ house of Sopt; pi. iii. 1.
4 and 1. 6.

3. j^.^ the abode of the sycamore, 1. 2.

4. I AI the house of the sycamore, 1. 6.

PI. iii. 1. 1, at the end, celebrates the victories
of the king over various nations : The barbarians
are struck under his feet^ his hand is brave
among the chiefs of the Greeks.^

1. 2. We here find mention made of a book
which is again quoted further on, and from
which the designs on the shrine appear to have
baen copied. ** Chosen from the booky these
images were made on this shrine; they tvere
engraved by the will* of king Nectanebo,*^

In 1. 3 is a subject which will be found again
almost identical, pi. vi. 1. 6. It is explained in
the following manner : ** These gods who 7'esid£
in the shrine of Unty^ on her right and her lefty
are standing on their abodeSy in the house of the
sycamore; they are engraved by the will of king
Nectaneboy lioing eternally ; as reward tvere
given him panegyries in great number; the
mountains and the sand {the plain) are bowing
before him.^' The shrine of Unt here mentioned,
containing the same gods, is seen in pi. vi. 1. 6.
There are two goddesses called Unt, one of the
South, and one of the North.

1 4 speaks in the same way of the gods of
the shrine of Sopt, the smiter of the Asiatics :
" These gods who reside in the shrine of Sopt,
the smiter of tlie Asiatics y on his right and his
left^ and who stand in their places in Pa Sopty
are engraved by the willy ^r.'* They are the
same we saw (pi. ii. 6) accompanying the

* The tree n reads here B (] Q nebs, pi. v. 2 and 3.

5 \|/ Y^ ^37 ^ I Haunebu, a word which^ under the

eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, has a much wider
meaning, but which afterwards especially refers to the
Greeks.

♦ I) ^ V «^c., by the will or the command of

His Majestj. This formula occurs repeatedly.
' Deity of one of the divisions of Egypt.

V 2

SAFT EL HENNEH.

shrine in which they reaide. On pi. iii. 1. 4,
Nectanebo 13 making an offering to four animals
over which is written : " Thon art valiant and
brave, fhy hand is groivn to smite those who give
trouble (?) to Egypt." Here probably followed
a date, which has disappeared.

PI, iv. 1. 5. These gods who stand on their
abodes, another secret place was foun^ for them
in the hohj space of the house of the sycamore.
They are engraved according to the will of
king Nectanebo. His majesty wished to pay
special honour to hi-t fathers, sanctifying their
images; each god is at his place, their images
are on this shrine.

\. 6 begins with the king worshipping four
gods : Another place was found inside of the
temple chosen for them ; they are engraved, ^c.

And further : Engraved from another leather
roll of the temple which is a book in sacred
writing [hieroglyphics^, they are engraved accord-
ing to the book by the will of king Nectanebo ; his
majesty directed these holy ceremonies to be done,
he made them in the house of his father Sopt, the
lord of the East ; when he raised the gods in
their abode tchen they chose their abode in his
lifetime. The throne of his majesty is established
among the living as firm as the shj every day.

In the dedicatory inscription we have already
found mention made of the other leather roll,
the sacred book containing the canon according
to which all the ceremonies were institnted.

On the right aide (pi. v. and vi.) we find the
sycamore which is called Jl fl Q nebs, and from
which the temple derived one of its names.

1. 2. ... to his fathers the lords of the abode
of the sycamm-e. The sycamore is green, its
boughs put forth their green leaves, the land is
green in all its extent, the residence of this god
is gre&n every day ; it puts forth its blossoms
and all the good things ; the land of Kes is green
in order that it may be radiant in his lifetime.

In this line the sycamore is represented
with the god Horns, who is considered as its
inhabitant ; as in line 4 Shu and Tefnut, and

in 1. 3 Hathor, are thus represented. The
picture of the house of the sycamoro is in I. 3 ;
we there see the tree inhabited by Sopt and
Harmachis; behind them are three different
forms of Khonset ; before the tree are two
serpents called the doorkeepers of the hall ; and
in front of the hall is another vestibule occupied
by two serpents, the doorkeepers of the vestibule
on the way to the house of the sycamore.

The inscription above reads thus : When the
king Kheperkara, the image ofRn, the issue of the
hawk of the East, the Sopt Shu of the temples,
the great builder ' (came to) this name in order
to make offerings to his fathers, the lords of the
abode of the sycatnore, perfecting Egypt in its
appearance, renewing the abode of the sycamore^
7nalcing it wholly afresh, all the land was in joy
about it, everybody was delighted, for it was made
according to theboolcs of Ra ; wlien Ra joins the
Rekhiu,' they cause the house of the sycamore to
2>rosper.

In 1. 4 we again see numerous forms of
Sopt. The inscription appeals to the gods :
*' Come and see all that has been done to you
by your son who loves you, king Nectanebo
who lives eternally; all the gods and goddesses
. . . when Rt, joins them, the R^'khiu smell the
excellf'nt things which he has done in the abode
of Bakhu ; he caused your table to abound in
all good offerings ; he renewed Mennn ^ without
interruption; the field is excellent enriching
your altars ; give him as reward to be lord of
the two parts of Egypt which are bowing to his
will hke Ra eternally."

1. 5. " His majesty directed all these sacred

. '^^

,t, builder.

|> litt the great of tlic biiildiag!-, the
; ■^ ^ 8 the able builder. It ia
tliii" tliat wc must uadersUnU the inKcriptioii on the belt
buckle of one of the colossal statues of Rameees II. at Taois
(FliDdera Petrie, Tanis, i. pi. v. 35 c) : Ramete* the great
builder.

I Genii of the horizon, the nature of whom is not jet
wetl known.

' Proper name not identiBeJ, very likely aaottier namtt

THE MONUMENTS DISCOVERED.

things to be done; [the gods] see what has
been done in their house by their son who is on
their throne, king Nectanebo living eternally ;
as reward that he constructed their temples, he
receives panegyrics as Totunen,^ and he is
crowned as king of the world ; the human
beings and the Rekhiu celebrate him ; all the
land is bowing before his majesty because of
his great power over them ; the water rises
in its season, and is excellent through its
benefits, because he pleased their hearts in
truth, and the land lives by it [the water]
every day."

1. 6. " Gome and see what his majesty has
done towards you, lords of the abode of the
sycamore ; reward him with the dignity of Tum
and the duration of Ra as prince of the living
beings ; all their hearts cling to him, all the
foreign lands ... by his lance, their chiefs are
protecting Egypt and guarding the Eye of Ra
against those who bring trouble into it. Khe-
perkara is himself its child who watches over
the temples of all the gods for ever, for he is
your son who loves you, the able builder in
the house of the sycamore, the son of Ra,
Nekhtnebef living eternally like Ra."

In line 6 we see Tum, or as his name is spelt
here, Atum, in the form of an ichneumon. We
find the same god again, pi. vii. 1 ; he resides
(pi. vi. 1. 6) in one of six different shrines which
probably were in the temple with the rest.
The gods who surround Unt occur also for the
second time. It is to be observed that from
line 5) and below, the inscription mentions of
what material the statue of the god or the
emblem was made, and indicates its height.
We see, for instance, 1. 3, that the standing
statue of Sopt is of gold and one cubit high,
while the standing Horus behind the crouching
Sopt, is of gilt sycamore wood and 5 palms

* Common designation of Ftah.

high. In line 5 and line 6 several of the gods
are said to be made of granite stone.

The inner part of the shrine was also com-
pletely decorated with sculptures ; there remains
only part of one side on two blocks, one of which
is at Bulak, the other at the isbet of Mustapha
Pacha. They have been put together in pi. vii.,
in order to show how they correspond, but
there is more space lost than is indicated on
the plate. Most of the sculptures of the inside
of the shrine are repetitions of the external
decoration. The first line mentions the name
of " ihe hiding-place " (cf. pi. ii. 3), which, as
we have seen, was given to the sanctuary by
king Nectanebo after the miracle occurred.

We must also notice the name of ^ ^ ® the

territory of Uk^^ which we shall find elsewhere.

The last monument which I found at Saft is
the stele, reproduced on pi. viii. D, a monument
which no doubt would be very valuable, were
it not in so bad a state. Despite all my
attempts to copy it, and notwithstanding that
I took several rubbings of it, I could get no
more details than are given in the plate. The
tablet was erected by Ptolemy Philadelphos,
when he had reigned somewhat more than
twenty-two years ; at that time he had already
instituted the worship of his wife Arsinoe, who
is seen enthroned among the gods to whom the
king brings offerings. It was dedicated to
Soptj the lord of the East^ and to the gods who
accompany him, and whom we saw on the naos.
The first goddess sitting behind Sopt is, doubt-
less, Khonset; then comes a god who is ob-
literated, and two forms of Horus, between
whom Hathor is sitting. The series ends with
Arsinoe. Besides the ideographic name which
occurs twice, we find as the residence of Hathor
the place Z7fc, which is mentioned inside the naos.

Unidentified place.

PHACUSA, GOSHEN, BAM8ES.

It was Prof. Briigscli who, in his earlier geo-
graphical writings/ first identified the nome of
Sopt or Soptakhem with that which Pliny and
Ptolemy, as well as the coins, call the nome of
Arabia. All the more recently discovered texts
have tended to confirm this identification ; and
although I differ from Professor Brugsch on
several points, it is upon the previous works
of this eminent Egyptologist that the results at
which I have arrived are chiefly based.

We will first consider what the hieroglyphic
lists engraved on the walls of the temples of
Edfoo Denderah and Philae record about the
nome of Arabia, the twentieth in the list of
Lower Egypt. In those lists we shall find all
the names which occur on the naos.

The nome itself is called

is doubtful whether it must not be read Sopt
Akheniy the crouching hawk being a phonetic
sign, and not only ideographic. The name of
EIITAKSIM^ which is found on certain coins of
the time of Hadrian, would rather point to the
second reading. Sopt Akhem figures appa-
rently in connection with Asia ; for in two
texts of Denderah,* the king says to the
goddess Hathor : " I bring thee Sopt Akheni
containing its magazines filled with . all the
good things of Asia."

The capital of the nome, i.e. the religious
capital — for we must not forget that the lists have

^ Cf. Geogr. vol. i. passim ; Zeitschr. fiir Aeg. Spr., 1881,
p. 15, Geogr. Dictiooary.

'J. de Roug6, Inscr. d'Edfou, pi. 148. The secood
printed character does not correspond exactly to the
original ; the hawk should hare two feathers on its head.

' J. de Roug^, Monnaies des Nonaies de TEgypte, p. 41.

* Dnemichen, Greogr. Inschr. i. pi. 72 ; iv. pi. 126.

chiefly a religious character — was Pa Sopt
[\ps^ ^ * A ; ® or as we have it here

(pi. iii. 4), n A. This name occurs in

the inscription of Piankhi ' as the residence of
one of the princes who reigned over Lower
Egypt. It is also mentioned in the Assyrian
inscription of Assurbanipal,® under the name of
Pi Saptu or Sap to^ as the residence of another
of these minor kings.

The god who gives his name to the nome is
also, as on the shrine, *' Sopt^ the lord of the
East • who smites the Asiatics ^ ^

The sanctuary is called either the abode of the

sycamore^ J r ^•^ ^^ which is the vene-

rated tree, or the Amenlheperu (the liiding-place)

w^.^ There is also another name

which we have not found on the naos, ^ (^

" the temple of the victoriovs^^^ which corresponds

to the title > — i [Neb Makheru'] which is given

to the god (pi. iv. 3).

Comparing the data of the lists with the
inscriptions on the shrine, and with the facts
there mentioned, we cannot doubt that the
sanctuary which Nectanebo built or repaired,
and in which he erected the naos, was Amen*
kheperu, the hiding-place of the god. It is
equally certain that this shrine actually stood

* Duemichen, Geogr. Inschr. i. 99, 26 ; ii. 29, 4.

* Ibid., i. pi. 77.

' E. de Roug^, 1. 115.

^ Oppert, Mem. sur les Rapports de I'Egypte et de
TAssyrie, p. 81 et 90.

* Duem. Geogr. Inschr. i. pl. 87 ; iv. pi. 51.
' Rong6, Edfou, pl. 148.

* Roug^ 1. 1.

' Duem. Geogr. Inschr. i. 99, 26 ; ii. 29, 4 ; iii. 25.

* Ibid., i. 99, 26.

\ the capitiil of tlie uome of Arabia.
Tims we may boldly assert that Saft el HcHiieb
is the site of the capital of tho twentieth noiue
of Lower Egypt, Coosidenng what the Greek
authors say of the nome of Arabia, this is
very import aut.

The geographer Ptolemy ' says that on the
east of the Bubastite branch, between the Bu-
baatite and Sethroite nomes, is the nome of
Arabia with its metropolis Phaciisa. We thus
learn the Greek name for the capital of the
nome. Phacusa is also mentioned by Stephanus
Byzantinus, who says that it is a kw/aij between
Egypt and tiie Red Sea, The same name
occurs as Phnguae in the " Geographer of
Bavenna " and in the map of Peutinger. It was
also one of the episcopal sees of Egypt. The
most important statement about Phacuaa is
found in Strabo/ who says that the canal
which runs from the Nile to the Red Sea
branches off from the river at Phacusa. Most
modern authors (Le P^re, Champollion, Ebers,
Brugsch), struck by the great likeness between
the name of Phacusa and that of the present
village of Fakooa, have supposed that Phacusa
was to be looked for on the site of the village.
In that case, the statement of Strabo would
be erroneous. No canal over started from
Fakoos towards the Red Sea ; there are no
traces of any such canal in the desert, the level
of which would also have presented an insu-
perable obstacle to a work of the kind, *We
were, therefore, obliged to admit that the Greek
geographer was in error. He bad placed the
starting-point of the canal about fifteen miles
distant from the place where it left the Nile,
and we were quite unable to account for this
misstatement. But we now see clearly that
there is none. Strabo is absolutely correct; he

' t. iv, 5, 63. See tho remarkable chapter of Mr.
FlinderB Petrie (Nancratie, p. 91), " On the Geographia of
Ptolemj," which entirely uoufirnis the site here aaaigned to
Phacusa.

' p. 805.

HEN, RAUSES. |.;

meutioned a place in the valley where the canal
had always been since the time of Ranieses II.,
and where it now runs at this present time.

His statement corresponds very closely with
that of Herodotos, who says that the canal
leaves the Nile a little above Bubastis (Tell
Basta, Zagazig). The canal very probably
crossed several branches of the great river, as
it does now ; and while Herodotos mentions
the western or Bubastite branch as the head of
this canal, so Strabo makes it start from a
more eastward source, deriving its waters from
the Pelusiac branch ; however, the two state-
ments refer clearly to the same canal following
the same direction.

The inscriptions engraved upon the shrine

PHACUSA, GOSHEN, RAUSES.

give iiB the origiD of the Greek name of I
Phacuaa. The Dutch scholar Van der Hardt '
had already remarked that this name must be
considered as being composed of two parts,
the name itself being cusa, preceded by the
syllable Pa or Pka, which may be either tlie
definite article, or the word " Pa," meaning
"house" or "temple." Champollioii * fully
endorsed this view, adding that tlie Coptic
name was kuuc. Brugsch and Ebere^ have
also advocated the correctness of this interpre-
tation. Now we have the exact transcript of
the Coptic Kuic in the name of Kes ^ ~^
which is twice found on the shrine, and
which, with the article, would be "Pa Ees,"
or Phacusa, the capital of the Arabian nome.

The strongest objection to this identification
lies in the resemblance between the names of
FakooB and Phaciiaa. It may be that Fakoos is
the site of the Egyptian city of r, /^ © (Plrs),
which has not yet been identified ; besides, it
not unfrequently happens that a name is shifted
from one place to another, the former place
being more or less abandoned. "We know two
villages of Beni Hassan, two villages of Korein,
and it is not impossible that there may have
been two Kuuc in Lower Egypt, as there are
several in Upper Egypt.

When Van der Hardt' interpreted the word
Phacusa, it was not only the Egyptian form of
the name which be discovered, but also the origin
of the famous name of Oosftfu. He considered
cma as the equivalent of the first syllable of
the name 1*3, wliicli is read by the Greeks r«£re/i,
r«(7w, Kai<r<rav, Kco-ffttf. In fact, it was near
Phacusa that the land of Goshen was to be
lookeil for. The Septuagiiit* call it rf<reii.'Apa-
/S»os, Qrsem of Ai-ahia, and the Coptic translator

' Apud .Uhlonski Op. iJ- p- 89. Vid. hisu Prof. Piiue id
"Th* Imippendeiit," JqIt, 1885.
' L'Egj'pie sous l«> Phan«>D», ii. p. 76.
* Durch Gtwen kunn Sioki, 3ud e<l. p. 519.

' GitB. ziT. la

makes it nKA.gl n reCEJU, HTE TA.pAAlA..
The name of TA.pA.&lA., Tarabia, in Coptic
corresponds to what the Arabs call the Sauf'
i.e. the land between the Nile and the Bed
Sea, which constitutes the present province of
Sharkieh, and where the nome of Arabia was
situate. Tradition has always located Goshen
in that part of the country, giving to the land
that was granted to the Israelites an extent
which varies according to the authors. In my
opinion, most scholars have given it too large
an area. Fea-ifi. 'Apa^Cat I consider as having
a definite meaning: Gesem which is in the norae
of Arabia; it may have applied to the whole
country occupied by the Israelites, but, pro-
perly speaking, the name referred to a limited
district.

This district we find in the Temple-lists. In
the Dendurah list we see the god who bears on
his head the name of Sopt, of whom it is said :

^«'?-lkS;t^'' "'" ''^■"V' thee
Kesem of the East ;" Kesem being here written
with the determinative of a land. In the geo-
gi-aphical lists of Edfoo it is written ^^ ^.
with the determinative of a city, and the text,
which is only fragmentary, adds that it con-
tains the statue of " the god first horn," which
as we have seen was one of the titles of Sopt.
Hence it is clear that ^^. « i^ ^^^J another

form of the word S ^^ which is on the
— e

shrine, and I consider it as the civil name of
the district and city in which was the temple
of Sopt. I thus believe that we have dis-
covered what was properly the land and town
of Goshen, viz. the country around Saft, within
the triangle formed by the villj^^ of Saft-,
Bclbeis, and Tell el Kebir.

That Goshen was the nome of Arabia is still
further proved by the recent discovery of the
narrative of a pilgrimage made by a woman

* ChwupollioD, 1. I. p. 75.

* Duem. G^ugr. Inscr. iii. ::

PHACUSA, GOSHEN, RAMSES.

through Palestine and Egypt in the fourth
century a.d.^ In this interesting document,
which was found at Arezzo by Mr. Gamurrini,
occurs the following passage : * ** Desiderii
ergo fuit ut de Clesma ad terram Gesse exire-
mus, id est ad civitatem quas appellatiu' Arabia.
Que civitas in terra Gesse est. Nam inde
ipsum territorium sic appellatur, id est terra
Arabia, terra Gesse que tamen terra Bgypti
pars est." (Our desire was to go from Clusma
to the land of Goshen, that is to the city of
Arabia ; this city is in the land of Goshen,
and the territory itself derives its name from it,
namely, the land of Arabia, the land of Goshen,
which, however, is part of Egypt.) Elsewhere
the narrative again mentions the identity of
Goshen and Arabia. I shall have occasion to
return to this document, which must, however,
be accepted with the caution which such narra-
tives always require. The repeated mention of
the fact that Arabia and Goshen are the same,
proves, however, that it was a well-established
tradition at the time when this pilgrim under-
took her pious journey.

We will now refer to other sources, and espe-
cially to the Arabic authors. Here we find,
first, the two translators of Genesis, Saadiah
and Aboo Said, who for Goshen invariably
employ Sadir. The French scholars, Silvestre
de Sacy and Quatremere,' have determined this
place to be a region about Abbasseh, which
corresponds exactly to the district of Saft.
Macrizi points nearly to the same place when
he says that Belbeis is the land of Goshen
which is mentioned in the Pentateuch.* Belbeis

^ Gamurrini, I Mjsteri e gP Inni di San Ilario ed una
Peregrinazione ai Luoghi Santi nel quarto Secolo.

' I owe this unpublished quotation to the great courtesy
of Mr. Gamurrini.

' Quatremerft, Mem. G6ogr. sur I'Egjpte, i. pp. 61, 62 ;
ih. M^moire sur le Lieu ou les Israelites trayers^rent laMer
Rouge; Acid, des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, t. xix. 1st part,
p. 458 ; and the authorities quoted by Diilmann, Genesis^
p. 425.

* Quatrem^re, Mem. G6ogr. i. 53.

being at that time the principal city of the
Hauf, which, as we have seen, corresponds to
the Arabia of the Copts, the geographer very
naturally cannot describe the region better than
from the name of its capital. This opinion is
shared by the famous Italian traveller, Pietro
della Valle, who gives it as the Jewish tradition.*

Others, and among them the famous Rabbi
Benjamin of Tudela, have considered the land
of Goshen to be what was called Ain el Schems,
" the Spring of the Sun." This name has gene-
rally been considered as synonymous with Helio-
polis, the *' city of the sun," near which was a
spring, still to be seen in the village of Matarieh.
Many authors have connected the abode of the
Israelites in Egypt with the country round
Heliopolis ; a view which was entertained as
early as the time of the Septuagint, who, men-
tioning the cities constructed by the Israelites,
add to Ramses and Pithom of the Hebrew text :
" On which is Heliopolis J^^ We shall presently
see how the origin of this connection may be
traced in the hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Before going further it is necessary to state
that I fully agree with the great majority of
Biblical scholars^ on the equivalence of the
name of Goshen and Ramses, with this slight
diflference — I consider Ramses as covering a
larger area than Goshen. I believe it is not
without reason that the Septuagint, writing
of Heroopolis, say that it is in the land of
Ramses, not Goshen. The name of " the land
of Ramses " is evidently a vague name, and
refers to a region called after this king either
because of the great deeds he accomplished
there, or because of the great buildings he
erected, or because it was his favourite resort.
It is not an administrative name. Now, at the
time when the Septuagint made their transla-
tion, Kesem was a definite district of the nome
of Arabia ; a nome to which Heroopolis did not

* Apud Jablonski, Op. ii. p. 87. * Ex. i. 11.

"^ Jablonski, Diilmann (Genesis, p. 424), &c,

PHACL'SA, GOSHEN, RAMSES.

belong. Thus, while the Hebrew text is vague
and says : " Jacob sent Juduh before him unto
Joseph, to show the way before him unto Qoshen,"
the Septuagint are more precise. They desire
to record the tradition of their time, and to fix
the place where father and son met together.'
This place is Heroopolis, which might be said
to belong to the laud of Ramses, for we know
how much Rameses II. had done for Pithom
Heroopolis. If, on the contrary, the Septuagint
had Baid that it was in the land of rta-eft, they
would have made a topographical error, for
rcere/i would not have accorded with the ad-
ministrative division of the Delta in their time.
We have next to consider what the land of
G-oshen was in the time of the Israelites, and
under the Nineteenth Dynasty. The first im-
portant fact to be noted is that iu the most
ancient extant lists of nomes, which are those
of the time of Seti I.,* the nome of Arabia does
not occur ; also we find only fifteen nomes of
Lower Egypt, instead of twenty-two, as under
the Ptolemies.' The lists of Seti I. end with
the nome of Heliopolis, and do not mention
either the Bubastite (Zagazig) or the Athribite
(Benha) nome — a circumstance which shows
that this part of the kingdom was then not yet
organized in provinces with a settled adminis-
tration, each nome having its capital and its
government. Instead of nomes we find names
of branches of the Nile, or of marsh-lands. "We
may therefore conclude that at the time when

' Tw SI 'louSav iiritTTtiko' IftwpoirSty avrov vpo^ 'Iwr^,
<mwMT^ <nu a,ir^ Koff ^paw wdXiv, cIs yijv 'Pap.€ffa^. Gen,
xlvi. 28.

* Duem. Geogr. Inscltr. L 92.

* Diodorus (i. 54) avfa that the king Sesoosis (Sesostrie)
divided Egypt into thirty-six nomes, and eatabliahed a
goTorooi- over each. Whether we are here to consider
Sesoosis as meaning Rameses II. or not, it is a fact that
under the reign of his father, Seti I., Egypt was diridcd
into thirty-seven nomes; and that from that time to the reign
of the Ptolemies and the Romans, the nnmber of the nomee
of Lower Egypt varied, and were increased to twenty-two or
twenty-three, according to the time, making for the whole
of Egypt fwrty-foor or forty-five.

the Israelites settled in Egypt under the last
Hyksos kings, the land of Goshen was an
uncultivated district, not divided among Egyp-
tian inhabitants regularly settled and governed ;
but probably a kind of waste land, sufficiently
watered to produce good pasturage. Thus it
was a district which might be assigned to
foreigners without despoiling the inhabitants of
the country. Like the east in general, Goshen
was under the protection of Sopt.

That Rameses II. was a devotee of Sopt, and
that he gave to this god a very high place
among tlie divinities of Egypt, is also a well-
established fact. On a wall in the temple of
Kamak,* there is a bas-relief sculpture which
represents Rameses II., with uplifted mace,
striking down a number of foreign captives
which are brought to him by two gods, Amon,
who is of colossal proportions, being the god of
Thebes, and Sopt, the Lord of the Bast. Know-
ing, as we do, the magnificence of Rameses II.,
and his taste for large buildings, we may
reasonably conclude that he did for Sopt what
he did for Amon, and that he erected in his
honour a temple and a city which afterwards
became Phacusa. This seems all the more
probable, since there still remain upon the spot
some fragments of a colossal statue of Rameses,
indicating a construction of importance.

That the country for some distance around
Sopt should be called Ramses, whether he
organized the nomes or not, is not extra-
ordinary. This part of Bgj'pt seems, in fact,
to have been the l^vonrite residence of the great
Pharaoh. We have seen that his cartouche
is found in most parts of the Eastern Delta.
Tanis, Pithom, Sopt, Bubastis, Heliopolis, and
the sites now occupied by the Tells of Kantir,
Khataanah, Fakoos, Horbeit, and Rotab, all
bear witness to that ambition of an earthly
immortality which caused him to sculpture his
name throughout this part of the country.

* Leps Deukm. iii. 144.

PHACUSA, GOSHEN, RAMSES.

Hence the land might well be called ** the
Land of Ramses."

Two important questions next arise : — By
what name were Goshen and its environs known
before the time of Rameses II. ; and does this
name appear in the lists of Seti I., which,
instead of the names of nomes, gives only the
names of canals or marsh-lands ? I believe it
is found in the lists of Abydos under the name

AA/VNAA A/VV\AA
AA/NA/SA

the water of Ra; and

that we have proof of it in the Great Harris
Papyrus of the time of Rameses III. Enume-
rating the benefits which the king confers on
various localities, it mentions : —

1. " The cattle which he offered to his mother,
Bast, heads 1533.

2. The servants which he gave to the temple

of Bast, the lady of Bailos J n^ <=> n ^

^^ H '^ J^ ^ ^''^ ^^' ^^'^^ ^/ ^«* ^69-

3. Thehouscof Rameses Hik On (Rameses III.)

in the temple of Sutekh, in the house of Rameses
Mer-Amon (Rameses II.) (servants ?), 106."

Then comes (1. 4) the cattle consecrated to his
father, the god Horns of Athribis (Benba).

Bailos ^ has been identified by Brugsch with
Belbeis, which belonged to the land of Goshen.
We have seen how often the goddess Bast is
represented on the shrine of Nectanebo, which
shows that she was one of the principal divini-
ties of the country. The first line, in which the
king speaks of his mother Bast, refers most
likely to the great temple of Bubastis towards
the north. Line 4 mentions Athribis (Benha),
which bounded the district on the west, so that
our identification of " the water of Ra " with
Goshen, and of Bailos with Belbeis, would
meet the requirements of the text. Curiously
enough, this expression, ^^the water of Ra^^*
might be the origin of the name of Ain Shems
before mentioned, and which later authors
unanimously apply to the city of Heliopolis on

' See the Appendix.

account of the spring of Matarieh. It may be
that this identification of Ain Shems with
Heliopolis arose from the fact that the original
meaning of the expression was lost. The con-
fusion was, at all events, the more easy because
Heliopolis and Goshen are closely connected.
We have seen that the old list of nomes comes
to an end with the nome of Heliopolis ; but if
we examine the more recent lists, we find that
the marsh-land (Pehu) of Pbacusa bears the
same name as the canal belonging to the Helio-
polite nome. The water of Phacusa came from
the canal of Heliopolis ; therefore the district
of Sopt must have been to a certain degree a
dependency of Heliopolis for so long as it was
not separately organized. This I believe to be
the reason why so many ancient writers, from
the Septuagint downwards, connect the site
occupied by the Israelites with Heliopolis.

In the meanwhile, it may be asked. Where
was the city of Ramses ? To that question I
am not as yet prepared to give a definite answer.
Is it Phacusa, where we found the colossal
statue of the king? I am inclined to think so,
although the position of Phacusa does not
answer to the position of Ramses in the extract
made by Mr. Gamurrini from the before-men-
tioned Pilgrimage. The good woman relates
that on leaving Heroopolis she went to the land
of Goshen, which was sixteen miles distant,
and that she passed through Ramses, which was
only four miles distant from the capital of Arabia.
This city, which had been built by the Israelites
during their captivity, was then entirely de-
stroyed. She there beheld a great mass of
ruins, and amid them a large si one, like the
great stones of Thebes, on which were sculp-
tured two colossal figures. The people of the
place said that these figures represented Moses
and Aaron. There also she saw a small syca-
more-tree, said to have been planted by the
patriarchs, and called " the Tree of Truth."
This she was told by the Bishop of Arabia, who
came to meet her.

D 2

PHACUSA, GOSHEN, RAHSE3.

In this narrative there are, I believe, but two
facts to be acceptecl. We leam, in the first
place, that the people of the fourth century still
believed Ramses to have been in the noma of
Arabia ; and in the second place, we find that
the tradition of the sycamore-tree of Sopt was
yet surviving, though clothed in Christian garb.
It was no longer the tree of the god. It is a
tree planted by the patriarchs, and called the
Tree of Truth. As for the site which our tra-
veller assigns to Ramses, I do not believe that
we can place confidence in it, or in the distances
which she gives. The monks who were her
guides, passing the site of a ruined city, were
but too likely to speak of it as the scene of some
remarkable event, and the good woman who had
journeyed all the way from Gaul to see these
famous places was, of course, eager to believe
whatever she was told.

More important by far is the line already
quoted from the Great Harris Papyrus, which
I transcribe in full :

" The house of Rameses Hik On (Rameses III.)
in the t«mple of Sutekh, in the house of Rameses
Mer-Amon {Rameses II.)." It comes between
line 2, mentioning Bailos, and line 4, mentioning

Athribis (Benha), and it shows that in this
region there was a city called the house of
Rameses Meri Amon (Rameses II.), containing a
temple of Sutekh, where Rameses III. built a
temple to his own name. It is difficult not to
regard this Rameses as the city which is spoken
of in connection with the land of Goshen.

To sum up, I submit that Goshen, properly
speaking, was the land which afterwards became
the Arabian nome, viz. the country round Saft
el Henneh east of the canal Abu-1-Munagge, a
district comprising Belbeis and Abbaseh, and
probably extending further north than the Wadi
Tumilat. The capital of the nome was Pa Sopt,
called by the Greeks Phacusa, now Saft el
Henneh. At the time when the Israelites
occupied the land, the term " Goshen " belonged
to a region which as yet had no definite boun-
daries, and which extended with the increase of
the people over the territory they inhabited.
The term " land of Ramses " applies to a larger
area, and covers that part of the Delta which
lies to the eastward of the Tanitic branch ; a
country which Rameses II. enriched with in-
numerable works of architecture, and which
corresponds with the present province of Shar-
kieb. As for the city of Ramses, it was situate
in the Arabian nome. Probably it was Phacusa ;
but the identification cannot be regarded as an
established fact.

KHATAANAH, KANTIR.

About two miles towards the north-east of the
present station of Fakoos, is a large village
called Dedamoon. Following the course of the
Bahr Fakoos, one presently reaches the small
village of Khataanah^ close to which is an isbet
(farm) belonging to a high dignitary/ On this
farm are three mounds, which I partly ex-
cavated during the winter of 1885. They all
three lie within the area of a city which must
have been large, for the land is covered with
fragments of pottery for a considerable distance
around. The largest of these mounds, to the
southward, stands on the edge of the desert,
and on the verge of the cultivated land just
opposite Khataanah. On the top are some
ruins of a large enclosure of crude bricks, in-
side which the soil consists of debris of houses,
stones, and pottery. Along the western side
of this enclosure, the ground is covered with
chips of calcareous stone, which clearly indicates
that lime-burning has there been jactively carried
on. In Lower Egypt, where stone is scarce,
every piece of limestone is at once taken and
burnt for lime, which accounts for the destruc-
tion of a vast number of monuments, and espe-
cially of those which, like many temples of the
twelfth dynasty, were not made of hard stone.
I worked for more than a month with about a
hundred labourers in the area of the enclosure,
and especially towards the western side, and
went down as far as the water allowed. I
found evidences of the site of a temple. On
one side I uncovered the bases of six columns
of calcareous stone ; on the other, a pavement
upon which had probably stood a granite shrine ;
but I found no inscriptions of any kind, except

Cf. the repoi-t of M. Maspero, Zeitschr. 1885, p. 12.

one stone bearing the two cartouches of Seti
(pi. ix. d). One of the cartouches of this
Pharaoh I also found upon a piece of enamelled
pottery, which is now in the British Museum.
I also discovered the lower part of the two
cartouches of Si Amen (pi. ix. e), a king who
seems to have exercised great authority in
Lower Egypt, whose name is often found at
Tanis, and whom I consider to be the usurper
Herhor, the founder of the dynasty of priest-
kings.*

In the centre of the enclosure, and on the
top of the highest mound, is a sphinx of black
gi'anite, the head being broken off, and a much-
erased inscription between the fore-paws. Al-
though I made several squeezes of the inscrip-
tion, and looked at it in all possible lights, I
am not certain that my reading is correct ; but
it seems to me to be the name of Sebekneferu,
of the Thirteenth Dynasty. All around this
sphinx I sunk very deep pits ; and at a depth
of about ten feet, I found a few large oval
urns containing ashes, pieces of charcoal, and
bones. Some of the bones were decidedly those
of animals, while others might be human. In
and around each of these urns, I found a
number of small pots of black and red earthen-
ware, and some small cups and saucers. These
pots seem to have been made for oil and per-
fumes ; and some are so shaped that they cannot
stand upright. Also, round about the urns, I
found a few scarabs, two bronze knives, and
some small flints. The little black and red
pots are of an entirely new type ; but the ware
of which they are made, as also the cups found
with them, exactly resembles what is found at

' Cf. Naville, Idsci*. de Pinot^m, p. 16.

KHATAANAH, KANTIR.

Abydos in tombs of the Thirteenth Dynasty.
The evidence of the scarabs is, however, con-
clusive, since one of them is inscribed with the
name of a king of that period. We have thus
a burial-place of the Thirteenth Dynasty, which
corresponds with the name I deciphered on
the sphinx, and is consequently anterior to the
time of the Hyksos kings. I found but a few
of these urns ; all were broken in many pieces,
and I could not discover whether the fragments
of bones which they contained were human
or not. If human J it would be important to
know that the dead were sometimes burnt
under the Thirteenth Dynasty, and not always
mummified. This would be a most curious
discovery in a country where so much care
was taken to preserve the bodies of the
dead.

The isbet or farm of Khataanah is situate
about half a mile farther north, in the direction
of the Bahr Fakoos. Two years ago, the fella-
heen, when digging for sebakh, came across a
very large block of red granite, which had
formed the lintel-stone of a doorway, possibly
leading to the temple. This lintel was sup-
ported by two pillars also of granite, one of
which is yet extant, but broken in two. The
presence of water, and the necessity of not
endangering the neighbouring houses, pre-
vented me from digging as much as I should
have desired, and I could not turn the lintel,
because of its enormous weight. However, I
dug down to the original pavement of the door-
way, and I contrived to turn the fragments of
the pillai'. These fragments were inscribed
with the names of three kings of the Twelfth
Dynasty : Amenemha I. on the lintel (pi. ix. a 1);
on one of the sides of the pillar, TTsertesen III.
(a 3) ; and another Amenemha, who must be
Amenemha III., as it is said that he renewed
what his father, Usertesen, had made. To the
previous dynasty, the eleventh, must be attri-
buted a statuette of black granite found also on
the land of the ishetf and which belonged to a

queen called Sent^ whose name is preceded by
the usual titles (pi. ix. b).

Further north, but still within the area of
the old city, is another mound called Tell Aboo
el Feloos. I here found nothing but Roman
pottery. The place is distinctly an old Roman
settlement. Between the Tell and the Bahr
Fakoos are two wells of cement, which are also
undoubtedly Roman.

No geographical name has turned up; we
therefore do not know how this city was called,
though it must have been a large and important
place, and have lasted a long time, considering
that it contains relics dating as early as the
Twelfth Dynasty, and others as late as the
Twenty-first. When this city was abandoned,
we know not. Perhaps the Romans themselves
contributed to its destruction when they occu-»
pied Tell Aboo el Feloos, which possibly was
only a camp situate on the Pelusiac brand), the
bed of which is easily traceable at the foot of
the mound. It may, perhaps, be one of those
military stations mentioned in the "Notitia
Dignitatum," of which oiily a very small number
have been identified.^

Under the Nineteenth Dynasty, when the
tenjple of Khataanah was yet standing, another
had been built, about three miles further north,
on the site of the present village of Kantir.
I had been told of a great granite block there,
and I went over to look at it. It is the base
of a large column bearing the ovals of Rameses
II. All around this village are cultivated fields,
and the people told me that they oftpn came
across antiquities. For instance^ they brought
me a small broken tablet which is now at the
Bulak Museum (pi. ix. p). A fellah showed
me in his field a basalt base inscribed with
beautiful hieroglyphs of B ameses II . That some
important buildings had once occupied this site
was, however, conclusively proved in the course
of a visit which I paid to an old bey who

* Cf. Parthey, Zur Erdkunde Aegjptene, pi. 8.

KHATAANAH, KANTIR.

is one of tho great landowners of Kantir. He
offered to show me some inscribed stones which
he had at his house, and I followed him to a
small chamber in the farmyard, where there lay
a heap of stones, the remains of a much greater
number which the bey had found in his garden,
and which had been burnt for lime. Among
them were parts of the side-pillars of a door,
inscribed with the cartouche of Rameses II.,
followed by the words which ended the inscrip-
tion, ^^5^/\f '*'^^^ ^i^i^^9 90^''' Other
fragments, also of limestone, were scattered in
various parts of the farm. The slab which
formed the lintel of the door was covered with
manure, and when cleansed, it disclosed the
name of Rameses II. (pi. ix. G 1). The base of
a column was used as a step to get into one of
the rooms ; it bears an inscription which speaks
of the king as " the good god who is a lion
against the Phoenicians^ and who loves Set "
(pi. ix. G 2). When I went first to Kantir, at
the end of January, the water was too near the
surface of the soil to permit of any attempt at
excavation. I went again in the month of April,
with Mr. Petrie. The harvest had not yet
been gathered, and it was not possible to work.

We attempted to secure the inscribed stones
which we saw in the farm of the old bey, but
although we offered a very high price, he would
not part from them, and it is only too likely
that they now have shared the fate of the rest.
We may, however, conclude from these scanty
remains that at Kantir there must have been
a temple built by Rameses II., and, judging
from the size of the granite block still extant,
that it must have been of some importance.
Although I most carefully examined all the
fragments in the farmyard, I could not discover
any geographical name. We see, however, that
Rameses was called the " good god." and that
he worshipped Set. The tablet which I pur-
chased at Kantir (pi. ix. f) indicates that Amon
was also worshipped there, with the peculiar
title, ** he ivho finds the way " or '* the far re-
moved. ^^ At first sight the name of the king
seems to indicate Rameses III. ; it is not, how-
ever, impossible that it may be Rameses II., who
in several instances attributed to himself the
title of Prince of On,^ which afterwards became
the distinctive name of Rameses III.

^ Lep8. Eonigsbuch, pL 33.

TELL EOTAB.

In the Wadi Tumilat, on the border of the
desert, one raile south of the lock of Kassassin,
stands the mound called Tell Rotab (pi. xi.).
It is situate near the remains of the ancient
canal, and consists of a brick enclosure which,
except on the north side, is nearly perfect.
The enclosed area is about 400 metres long
and 160 wide. The ground rises very con-
siderably towards the middle, and on the top
stands a rough granite block without any in-
scription. The large bricks with which the
enclosure is built, cause it to look very like
that of Tell el Maskhutah, with this difference,
that,instead of being carefully built with cement,
the bricks seem to have been piled over one
another in great haste, at least in that part of
the enclosure which is above the sand (pi. xi.,
section). Being anxious to identify the sites
of the Wadi Tumilat, I made an attempt to
excavate at Tell Rotab, which was entirely un-
successful. The great number of fragments of
hard stone which bestrew the mound, the
numerous remains of brick houses, and the
large granite block, caused me to hope that
something interesting might perhaps be dis-
covered; but this, unfortunately, was not the
case. I cut trenches and sunk pits more than
30 feet deep, as indicated on the map ; but the
result was very trifling. I found two other
granite blocks as large as the first, but without
inscriptions ; a fragment of limestone with the
second cartouche of Rameses II.; abronze sword,
or rather an Egyptian ^^ i) khopsh^ now in the
British Museum; and apiece of a blue enamelled
saucer bearing this inscription written in cha-
racters of the style of the Saite period (pi. ix. i) :
" in his elevation : the chief of the prophets of
the gods^ the lords of^* . . . Despite a most

careful search, I could never find the other
fragments ; and although no very trustworthy
evidence might be derived from a small frag-
ment, the geographical name which ought to
have followed exactly where the saucer is
broken, might perhaps have given us a clue for
the identification. I also found a few scarabs ;
one inscribed with the name of Rameses II.,
and another with a name which seems to be Si
Amen.

The resemblance of this place to Tell el Mas-
khutah induced me to begin on the western side,
where I supposed the temple would have been ;
but I there found, as elsewhere throughout the
Tell, only a bed of black soil interspersed with
layers of lime and charred ashes. At the top
T found a few large jars, each with a smaller
one inside, containing ashes. This must have
been a burial-place of later time. Brick walls
and remains of houses are also extant on the
Tell ; but it contains no storehouses like those
of Pithom. The place seems to have been in-
habited during a long period ; the scanty re-
mains discovered showing that it wa« occupied
under the Nineteenth Dynasty. The houses
were built and rebuilt on the same spot during
so many centuries that their ruins have caused
an accumulation of more than thirty feet of
artificial soil, which I had to cut through before
I reached the natural soil. The houses after a
time stood higher than the enclosure wall, which
they entirely covered on the northern side.

The most interesting part of the work was
when cutting through the enclosure, which I
did on three sides. I thus discovered that the
original enclosure on the southern and eastern
sides was below the present soil, and of the
best workmanship. The bricks are among the

TELL ROTAB.

largest I saw in Egypt, being more than 16
inches long, which indicates the time of the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties.^ The
ground having risen inside, the enclosure was
perhaps not sufficiently high, and the inhabi-
tants were compelled to build another. They
did not, however, take pains to build the second
wall as well as the first ; they merely took the
old bricks and put them roughly together,
making it considerably wider than at first. On
the eastern side, they built it partly on the
old enclosure and partly on the soil, which is
there perfectly clean sand. On the southern
side, they built it on the sand inside the old
wall, which is still perfect, and where one sees
a recessing of the brick-work which must have
been a pathway used for the defence. Curiously,
the eastern side is made of bricks of two different
descriptions, the upper ones being made of the
ordinary Nile mud, while the lower are of a
kind of bluish sand which has become as hard

^ Petrie, The Domestic Remains of Ancient Egjpt, p. 16.

as the mud. These last are even larger than
the upper ones, for they exceed 17 inches in
length. On the west side, where the original
enclosure seems to have been destroyed, the
workmen or soldiers who built the second wall
made up for good workmanship by great thick-
ness.

The whole place indicates a camp, probably
of late Roman time. It must have been one of
the military stations posted along the course of
the canal leading to the Red Sea, and it may
have been another of the garrisons mentioned
in the "Notitia Dignitatum." From the
quantity of sling stones which are on the Tell,
one may gather that it was a camp of slingers.
No Roman inscription was found. The map
shows all the trenches and pits which I made
at Tell Rotab. Further excavations might
lead to the discovery of some inscribed
fragment, but it would be quite fortuitous ;
and there are no external indications to du'ect
the excavator to one place rather than to
another.

APPENDIX.

BAILOS.

It is most desirable that the site of this city
should be identified from monuments found on
the spot. Our documentary knowledge of it is
founded upon two texts only ; i.e. the passage
from the Great Harris Papyrus quoted above,
and another from the famous inscription of
Menephtah, whom I believe to be the king of
the Exodus, and who repelled an invasion of
foreign nations in the fifth year of his reign.

The passage from the inscription of Meneph-
tah at Thebes reads thus in Dr. Duemichen's
edition (Hist. Inschr. i. pi. 2, 1. 7) :

^km-^^v

/WWW ^ ^ #^^

A/NA/VAA
AA/WNA
AA/WNA ^

Brugsch translates from this reading (Geogr.
Diet. p. 77):

. . . their tents in front of the city of Pi
BailoSy near the canal Shalcana^ on the north of
the canal Ati {of Heliopolid).

De Rough's version (Inscr. Hier. pi. 180)
shows the following differences : —

1 vv cr^ III 1 &i; 5 II e^^a iiJ \>

The end of the sentence he translates : making a

tvell (?) to draw water . . . (Pierret, Lex. p. 601).

A revision which I made myself in 1869 from

Duemichen's copy confirms De Rough's version,

especially in the group ^"^ where the cs> is

quite distinct. Thus it cannot be ''north;''
while De Rougd's translation " draw " is corro-
borated. Whatever discrepancy there has been
in the translations, the two copies agree as to
the last word, which Brugsch considers as the
name (which occurs elsewhere) of the canal of
Heliopolis (Brugsch, Diet. Geog. p. 76). I
need only point to the great interest of the
line following, written, it is to be remembered,
in the time of Menephtah. It says that " the
country around was not cultivated^ hut left as
pasture for cattle because of the strangers. It
was abandoned since the time of the ancestors "
(cf. Rouge, M6m. sur les Attaques dirig^es
centre TEgypte, p. 39 ; Brugsch, Gesch. Aeg.
p. 569).

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